Hello - my toddler has recently started nursery and we are working on his anaphylaxis plan. They are unsure at the moment if they can spare staff to travel with any child to the hospital. I don't know if I should hand around outside the program all morning or go home and wait in case I get a phone call. Does anyone have any experience in this area?

Also, I have my other baby often with me - do they load all of us into the ambulance or do I need to have a back up plan for someone to watch my baby in case I have to race to the hospital in the ambulance?

Whether they send a staff member to go in the ambulance with your child would probably depend on how many staff they have and how far above staff:student ratio they are. They may have a policy on this, or might not. I'm pretty sure our preschool doesn't have a policy around this, but would probably send a staff member with the child if they were able to without endangering the other children (having insufficient supervision for them). We are also attached to an elementary school so if there were an emergency, they could call for one of the support staff from there to help supervise the room while a preschool teacher attended to the child having the emergency.

I've often wondered about the ambulance ride as well, and if they would accommodate the parents and other siblings. It may depend on the area? I'll ask my friend's fiance who is a firefighter, as he would probably know about the paramedics' protocol.

There is a lot of space in the ambulance. There may be an issue re types of seatbelts but definately an ambulance could accomodate a couple of adults and a stroller (umbrella).
The most important thing is that the EMS be able to treat the patient so if the passengers are not calm, theymay b=not be able to ride. Talk to your local ambulance. Ask them what the protocol is. A police officer may be dispatched to accompany the other children or stay with them until family/friends can arrive. This all needs to be considered when making your action plan.
Most paramedics have programs to increase public knowledge. You may be able to tour the facilities or find out when the next public awareness event is hapening.

OK, I've heard back from my friend's fiancee who is a Vancouver area firefighter. He said: "there is definitely room for one parent to ride in the back and you could bring another little one with you. However, it would be better to follow in the car so that the child would be in a car seat. There are only benches as seating in the back so you'd be flying around."

So I guess you weigh out the risks of one child riding alone in the ambulance (with only the paramedics and not with mom/dad) and the risk of your other child being in the ambulance (instead of a proper car seat).

I'd actually wondered about this as well. In the case with us, it would be an issue that if an allergic reaction happened while my husband was at work with the car, I would have to bring along the new baby along with our allergic daughter (if it's her reacting of course) from home. Last time we rode in the ambulance, it was just me and her, but if I had a newborn (which we will soon) I would have no choice but to bring the new baby with us as well, which may be tricky. I know last time my daughter had a reaction, they had a baby seat attachment to the stretcher so she was strapped in safely even though I had no carseat (due to it being in the car with my husband at work). It would be interesting to find out what they would do, and may be worth a call to the company that runs it, because in an allergic emergency, there certainly isn't time to wait for someone to show up to replace the parent/guardian at home/daycare.

When my daughter had her anaphylactic reaction I called a friend to drive me to the hospital because there is no way that I would drive in that situation. I was able to go in the ambulance but given it was our first call I had no idea if I could go in it. The sirens alerted neighbours too and I know I could have asked any of them to help.

The emergency protocol for the school may be to look after the child and call 911 before they even call the parents.

_________________me: allergic to crustaceans plus environmental
teenager: allergic to hazelnuts, some other foods and environmental

Good News - the nursery is working on revising its protocol. They have talked to the church where it is located. A nursery staff member will travel with the (any) child and a church office staff member will cover the staff shortage for the short time until parents pick up the kids.

Ambulance - they often will load the baby in with the parent and anaphylactic child - but for older kids you should have back up plan for coverage.

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